Speakers

Born on 9 October, 1955, married, the father of two daughters. Elected Councillor of the Katowice City Council in 1990. In the years 1994-1998 he performed the function of the Deputy Mayor of Katowice. He was the Mayor of Katowice since November 1998 till December 2014. Despite huge social support he decided not to run for re-election but is still very active in his work for Katowice. From 1999 to 2006 apart from the city Mayor function, he performed the duty of the President of the Polish Cities Association, and the President of the Board of the Union of Polish Metropolises. Up to April 2011 he has been a member of the Joint Commission of the Government and the Territorial Self-Government and to the year 2011 was a President of the Municipal Association of Upper Silesia. Awarded with plenty of distinctions such as, among others: The Bronze Order of Merit (in 1987), The Silver Order of Merit (in 1990), The Gold Order of Merit (in 2000), The Gold Laurel of Skills and Competences for the Year 2000, etc. Piotr Uszok graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Automation and Electronics at the Mining and Metallurgical Academy in Cracow, Poland. Later he worked at the Murcki Coal-Mine in Katowice, where he held offices as follows: the head of department, a shift foreman and, from 1990 to 1994, the senior foreman for basic electrically-operated devices.